When I ask my son what he would like to do today if he could decide all by himself, he normally gives me one of two answers. The first is to go on a bicycle trip. Where, I ask him. Imajuku, he says. Imajuku is where we live, so then we take a ride to the beach or park or go up the mountainside. His other answer is Shinkansen. We have already gone to Hakata station to see the Shinkansen trains a few times, so this time, when my son wanted to see the trains, I thought we should actually take a little train ride on a Shinkansen train.
Our mum-friend had recently told me that it is possible to go from Hakata station to the terminus where the trains are parked, for a very reasonable price. So I decided that the first Shinkansen trip together with my son would be from Hakata station to Hakata south, a 9 minutes ride that costs 300 yen (I think it must be the cheapest Shinkansen ride in the universe).
My son was determined we should board the train to Tokyo and visit his cousins again, so he was a bit disappointed that the train ride ended so quickly, but the short time it lasted he was a such a joyful boy with a hint of reverence in his face. Riding a Shinkansen was a dream of his, as well as of many little kids. There were quite a few mum-and-son-pairs who took the train ride with us, but seeing them I realized my sin and I have quite a way to go before we can call ourselves true Shinkansen-otaku, Shinkansen geeks. While the other kids had Shinkansen backpacks or jackets, we did not even have a little Shinkansen train on our socks.
I really look forward to going to Tokyo by Shinkansen with our son. One day we will make the six hour journey and I can only imagine how much fun it will be. And by then I will make sure we will at least have a train-t-shirt to wear.
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